From Colombia to Palestine, We Will Be Free (w/ Irene Vélez Torres & Toufic Haddad)

Working People

Right now, working people in other parts of the world are being crushed by a relentless onslaught of murderous violence and dispossession, economic degradation, and inhumane exploitation—they are fighting for their lives, and they are asking for our help. In Palestine, against the ceaseless violence of occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing, Palestinians are rising up to resist their own erasure; in Colombia, millions have taken to the streets to fight against a corrupt system by which the government, the police, and the forces of international oligarchy have waged class war on working people. In this special episode of Working People, spanning three continents, we interview Irene Vélez Torres and Toufic Haddad, two people who are living through world-changing struggles in Colombia and Palestine that working people around the world need to know about, need to care about, and need to take up as our own.

Interview with Irene Vélez Torres begins at 20:25

Interview with Toufic Haddad begins at 46:51

Additional links/info below...

• Rally/Livestream fundraiser for striking coal miners in Brookwood, AL
• Irene's faculty page
• Toufic's Al-Shabaka author page
• Toufic Haddad, Bloomsbury, Palestine Ltd.: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory
• Al-Shabaka website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Alliance for Global Justice website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Christina Noriega, NACLA, "Colombian Uprising Takes Aim at Inequality"
• Estefanía Martinéz, Jacobin, "Colombians Are in the Streets Against a Violent Neoliberal Order"
• Aaron Tauss, Jacobin, "Colombia Is in Revolt Against Neoliberalism"
• Amanda Taub, The New York Times, "From Colombia to U.S., Police Violence Pushes Protests Into Mass Movements"
• Seraj Assi, Jacobin & The Real News Network, "It's Apartheid. Naked, Unabashed Apartheid"
• Abby Martin, Gaza Fights for Freedom
• Abby Martin, The Empire Files, "How Palestine Became Colonized"
• Mustafa Abu Sneineh, Middle East Eye, "Palestinian Citizens of Israel Fired for Participating in General Strike"
• Lee Yaron, Haaretz, "General Strike Highlights Israel's Dependency on Palestinian Workers"
• Citations Needed, "News Brief: Debunking the 5 Most Common Anti-Palestinian Talking Points"
• Citations Needed, "News Brief: On Palestine, It's Time for Progressives to Stop Reading From the Same Outrage Script & Support BDS"
• "Michael Brooks Takes a Question on Israel"
• Yumna Patel's coverage from Palestine for Mondoweiss
• Dominique Mosbergen, HuffPost, "Thousands Stand In Solidarity With Palestine In Rallies Held Across U.S., Cities Worldwide"
• Adam Forrest, The Independent, "Italian Port Workers Refuse to Load Shipment of Arms Headed for Israel"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Ending Satellites, "While You Are Here"
• Jules Taylor, "Working People Interlude Music"